


Petals of Ink

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Flowers, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 13:29:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis just wants to tattoo skulls and snakes and extravagant designs<br/>so why is he finding himself tattooing flowers onto a boy who wears a flower crown in his curly hair?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Petals of Ink

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this was from a prompt from a friend of mine ((sarah)) and the prompt was:  
> "Could Louis like work in a tattoo shop??? And like Harry comes in with his flower crown? And idk where I'm going with this"  
> and that's how i got this fic really

“Jesus fucking christ, Lou!” Zayn winced as Louis skimmed the tattoo gun over his forearm, creating a small pattern of ink. The needle was buzzing and they'd been at it for nearly two hours; Louis sticking his tongue out with a look of concentration and Zayn digging his nails into the chair's cushion.

  
Zayn had come to Louis' tattoo parlor in hopes of filling in his tattoo sleeve. Of course he trusted Louis, his best mate and the best tattoo artist in London. He knew it would look exactly how he wanted it and the pain was bearable if he didn't think about it too much.

  
The air in the small shop smelled like overly used cologne and incense that covered the stinch of pot. The walls were covered entirely of pictures from customers getting their tattoos done and some designs were in poster boards for people to pick and choose. Zayn was up on the wall multiple times; his first time coming into the shop to get the tiny scripture on his collarbone up to the most recent time with his ongoing tattoo sleeve.

  
Louis was just finishing up the final details of the tattoo when the bell signaling a customer started ringing from the front door. Louis groaned and turned the gun off, slipping off his protective gloves and standing from his spot on the small stool.

  
“Ya mind?” he asked, pointing his thumb to the front of the store where whomever was waiting. Zayn shook his head and went to run his fingers over the new addition when Louis threw a glove and hit him square in the face. “Don't touch it, you twit. It'll smear.”

 

  
Louis walked out of the small back room and to the blinding front, the unusually sunny London day making the entire store light up. He smiled as he saw the back of a tall curly-haired boy standing in front of a tattoo display, flipping through the rack to get a look at them all. He made a soft noise in his throat to announce his presence.  
The boy turned and Louis had to do a double take. Sitting atop the mass of curls was a crown of flowers, all different varieties and shades of colors. It was neatly placed and very few strands of hair got in the way of the soft petals from the flowers.

  
“Hi!” The boy excitedly said, letting his deep voice completely throw Louis off balance. He was smiling and waving his big hand in a fast motion. Louis was frozen, taking in the delicate look of him.

  
He was wearing an outfit that looked like something a mother would pick out for a child's Easter day. Soft pinks and blues of a flannel shirt, the white skinny jeans that made his thin legs look as if they were on the verge of snapping. Even the boy's converses were white and not a spot of dirt on the fabric. The only things dark about the boy were his curls and his gigantic green eyes.

  
Louis compared himself, his black pants that had multiple holes in them. His loose fitting Led Zeppelin shirt that never actually fit him and he wasn't sure where he even got it. He knew his fringe wasn't exactly stylish anymore, everyone seeming to sport a quiff. He didn't really care about his looks other than the ink on his skin.

  
“Uh, hi.” Louis replied, raising an eyebrow and leaning his weight onto one leg. He crossed his arms and watched as the boy's eyes trailed down his arms and took in his tattoo covered skin. “Can I help you, mate?”

  
Surely this boy wasn't in the right place. Everything about him screamed “Pure!” and the darkness of the store made Louis smirk compared to the lightness of the boy. If he was being completely honest, it kind of aggravated him how the store seemed off-balance with the bright boy standing amidst it.

  
“Yes, you can!” The boy smiled even bigger, surprising Louis because the smile he had before already looked like it was going to split his face in half. Louis waited for him to continue, and when the silence went on for too long he sighed.

  
“And how may I help you?” He let his arms fall as he let out a long breathe. He hated it when people came in with absolutely no idea what they were doing in his shop. And this boy was obviously one of those people.

  
“I'm here for a tattoo!” He kept smiling as Louis' face dropped and he closed his eyes. Raising his hand up to run over his face, he took deep breathes and kept calm.  
“Obviously.” was his sarcastic reply, letting his hand drop and looking at the boy again. “This is a tattoo parlor, the only thing I offer is tattoos. Now are you going to be more specific or are you going to stand here and waste my time?” He heard Zayn moving around in the back room and he groaned. “Hold on a sec.”

  
He jogged in to see Zayn going through drawers, picking up ink cartridges and unused needles. Louis groaned and walked up behind him, snapping his hand across the back of Zayn's head.

  
“You twat. Sit down and stop moving, I'm not finished with you yet, Zayn.” Of course he had to get stuck with a best friend who has the attention span of a two year old.

  
“Oh, what's he getting?” a deep voice asked, making both Zayn and Louis turn their heads to the door. The curly haired boy was standing on his toes to look over at Zayn's arm. His eyes were wide as he took in the swirls and lines of designs.

  
“It's a filler for my sleeve. See, I've got my favorite comic book words across my arm and different memorial stuff. It's really meaningful you can come take a look” Zayn urged the boy on by waving him over to come stand beside the chair. Louis rolled his eyes and figured he could quickly finish up and get Zayn to fuck off so he could help the boy and get him out of the store.

  
“Way too dark for me. I was thinking I would get something like a, uhm,” they boy tapped his chin with a long finger, biting his lip and making a face to show he was thinking hard. “-a Bouvardia Double!”

  
Zayn and Louis looked at eachother, Louis scoffing and Zayn drawing his eyebrows together. “What's that?” he asked as Louis turned on the tattoo gun and continued working on his arm.

  
“It's a flower!” Louis audibly laughed, making Zayn pinch his side with his free hand and the boy shrink back a bit. He didn't feel bad about laughing, it was funny. What kind of boy gets a fucking girly flower as their first tattoo?

  
“That's cool, why not a more known flower? I don't know what a b-boulevardian triple is.” The boy threw his hands up to his mouth and giggled at what Zayn said.

  
“It's a Bouvardia double. It means 'zest for life.'” his eyes lit up with his words and he bit his lip. Zayn nodded and Louis felt like this was the hundredth time in a span of five minuets that he's rolled his eyes.

  
“Is that what's on your crown?” Zayn nodded towards the top of the boy's head and the boy visibly blushed.

  
“No, not today. These are sweetpeas.” Louis turned around to look at the crown again. It was ridiculous. He turned around as the boy reached up and situated it in his hair again.

  
“That's neat, did you make it yourself?” he couldn't believe Zayn was actually interested because in his opinion, it was fucking weird. Who the hell walks around a city with sweetpeas on their head?

  
They continued talking, Louis only half listening as his tongue slid out of his mouth and poked into the air, concentrating on the last section of Zayn's arm. When he finally finished, he swept away the excess ink and yelled “Tada!”

  
Zayn raised his arm to his line of vision, taking in the smokey background Louis had delicately etched into his skin. It was exactly what he visioned it to be.

  
“It's wicked, Lou” Zayn was turning his arm in the air to look at each detail. He couldn't have done it better if he'd drawn it himself.

  
“Lou?” the boy questioned, he tilted his head and the crown moved the tiniest bit. “Your name is Lou?”

  
“You can call me Louis” he replied, turning back to Zayn and sighing. He took off his gloves and tossed them into a bin, cleaning all his supplies and getting them ready for the next tattoo session.

  
“And you can call me Harry.” the boy, Harry, grasped his hands together and swung them in front of him. He had a dimple pocking out of his cheek and he was humming a tune that sounded too bright for Louis' liking. “So, are you quite ready, Lou?”

  
“It's Louis,” he replied as he threw the used needle into a hazard bin and replaced it with a fresh new one. He was going to love seeing this boy squirm underneath the pain of the needle that so many people underestimated. “I'm waiting on you.”

  
“Ready when you are captain!” Harry used his hand to salute towards Louis as he flopped down into the chair that Zayn had been occupying. He brought out his phone and started typing into it. Louis tapped his fingers on the metal counter until the phone was being shoved underneath his nose.

  
“This is the flower I want.” Harry was waving the phone so fast he couldn't see it. “I want it on my arm, Lou.”

  
“My name is-”

  
“And I want it to be a very light pink. More peach than anything, kind of toning in my skin color. What do you think, Zayn?” Harry turned all the way around in the chair to look at Zayn, who was sitting behind them and taking pictures of his new tattoo.

  
“Sounds nice, Harry” he replied with a sweet smile. It made Louis want to throw up.

  
“Okay, okay. Turn around you're going to break the chair” He tapped Harry's leg and made him sit down properly. He took a look at the flower and scoffed, not missing the small frown of disappointment on Harry's lips. “Zayn, how about you draw this one up for me? I'm not used to drawing fucking flowers.”

  
Zayn put his own phone down and walked over to Louis' outstretched hand. Grabbing the phone, he looked up and smiled at Harry.

  
“It's a nice looking flower, Harry” Zayn nodded and grabbed a piece of wax paper to do the quick outline. It wasn't hard for him because he's drawn everything; from birds to skulls to intricate designs. Now he could add flowers to the never ending list.

  
It didn't take him long, just a few minutes where Louis was on his phone texting and Harry was looking at all the needles and materials lying on the metal surface.  
“What's this one for, Lou?” He asked innocently as he picked up a a small container of pink ink.

  
“It's Louis for the last time” Louis shot daggers to Harry who was only picking up another container of paint. “And that's ink that'll seep into your skin.”

  
Harry dropped it with a small smile. “Is it gonna hurt?” Zayn reached across Harry and handed the paper to Louis. He took one look at it and the image was burned into his mind. He didn't need to wax it down on his arm to trace it.

  
“Oh, yes.” Louis smiled as the started up the tattoo gun. “It will hurt like hell.”

  
He expected Harry to flinch at least as the sharp needle shot into his skin. But as the time went on, the boy just sat still and hummed a tune that Louis was growing to hate. How could someone be this cheerful when they were getting a tattoo?

  
“I thought you said it was gonna hurt,” Harry smirked, Zayn laughing in the corner as he looked down at his phone. Louis had the urge to press down harder onto Harry's skin but he wasn't that cruel.

  
“It will” was all he said as he rounded another petal. Surely the boy was at least a little but uncomfortable. Louis couldn't even tolerate pain like this. “Just wait.”  
“Waiting,” Harry started humming again and nodding to the tune in his head. Louis was working on the outline in quiet when Harry startled him by speaking again. “You know, you should have music playing in here.”

  
Louis hummed while his tongue was poking out the side of his mouth and Zayn made an agreeable noise behind them.

  
“He's right, Lou. At least crank some tunes!” Zayn jumped up and grabbed a small radio that was dusty and hidden in the corner of the room. Louis hated it because it always distracted him and half the music they played was shit music that he never listened to.

  
But now, Zayn was pulling out a wire from behind the radio that Louis had no idea what it went to. Harry squirmed a bit and pulled his phone out of his front pocket, tossing it to Zayn who hooked it up to the wire.

  
In seconds, music was drifting through the store and automatically Louis recognized that it was the tune Harry had been humming ever since he walked in.

  
“What is this god awful song?” Louis stopped the gun and turned to look at Zayn.

  
“Uhm, something about a bird and a mouth?” Zayn cast a confused glance at Harry who only smiled.

  
“Flightless bird, American mouth. It's my favorite song,” Harry turned back to Louis and smiled. “It's wonderful isn't it?”

  
“It's too fucking slow, now stop moving before I tattoo a line down the middle of your arm.” They were quiet, listening to the song and Louis had to admit that it was a smooth song. It didn't distract him like music usually did and he even heard Harry quietly singing under his breathe.

  
The songs changed and Louis hadn't heard of any of them, but he did hear Harry singing along to every single one of them under his breathe.

  
Not soon enough, Louis was wiping away the extra pink ink off Harry's skin and turning the tattoo gun off.

  
“Finished,” Louis tightly said. He hated doing tattoos that he didn't like, but it was his job. Harry stood from the chair and smiled down at his arm.

  
“Lou, it's perfect” Harry ran over to Zayn to show off the artwork. He gave a small wolf-whistle and pulled his arm closer to inspect it.

  
“Its Louis,” Louis huffed under his breathe. He cleaned off his tools and threw away the trash in the bin. He heard a quick shutter and turned to see Zayn holding the polaroid camera and waving a picture of Harry in the air.

  
“Everyone who gets tattooed here gets put up on the wall,” he waved his arms at all the pictures and Harry looked amazed. Really, it was nothing but three years of masterpieces that Louis had worked on. No big deal.

  
He took his time cleaning up, washing his hands and wiping down the chair. What he was really doing was avoiding spending any time near Harry.  
They were pinning the picture up on the wall when Louis noticed the time.

  
“Was supposed to close twenty minutes ago,” Louis muttered. He made his way to the front of the store and switched the “Open” sign to “Closed.” He gave a big sigh and smiled to himself as he drew up Harry's bill.

  
He watched as Zayn and Harry walked out of the back room together, talking about some band that was touring in town. Louis had never heard of them and by the looks on Zayn's face, he hadn't either.

  
They were talking and Louis took time to really look at Harry.

  
He had broad shoulders that narrowed down to a slim waist. His long legs looked fragile and his feet were huge. He looked at the head of curls again, remembering how he had always been a sucker for curly hair. He shook his head and broke out of thought as his eyes scanned over the flower crown on top of Harry's head.

  
“That'll be seventy Euro” Louis chipped in when they finally walked up to the counter. Harry nodded, not really listening as he handed over a card and continued talking. Louis rolled his eyes and paid the bill, handing the card back to Harry. “Listen, I know you guys are becoming the greatest of friends and all, but I was set to close almost half an hour ago.”

  
Harry's eyes popped open and he checked the time on the watch on his wrist. Louis rolled his eyes again and he was pretty sure if he kept doing that, his eyes were going to roll out of his head.

  
“I'm late for a party!” Harry paused as Zayn wrapped gauze around his fresh tattoo. Louis had forgotten that – oops. Harry scooted his way to the door and waved bye to Zayn.

  
Then he looked at Louis and his smile softened. He was all bright colors and the sunset from behind him made him glow. Louis shook his head and nodded towards Harry.

  
“I'll be seeing you around, Lou” Harry smiled, giving a small wave as he adjusted the flower crown on his head. A petal fell to the floor and he gave a small frown.

  
“Bye, Harry.” Louis watched as he walked out the door and down the block. He quickly locked the door and turned back to Zayn. “That kid was weird.”

  
“Not really, just special?” he said it like a question and started his way to the small den that Louis had in the very back of the shop. “He seemed nice, I liked him a lot. Got his number, too.”

  
Something in the pit of Louis' stomach twisted, either from the pure dislike of Harry or the thought of Zayn finding a new friend. It had to be one of the two.

  
As Louis followed in suite, he made sure to stomp the petal that had fallen from Harry's crown; making it smear against the hard floor.


End file.
